Re: RFC: Soname in rpm name

On Mon, Jan 24, 2005 at 02:32:43PM -0500, Jeff Johnson wrote:
> Axel Thimm wrote:
>
> >On Mon, Jan 24, 2005 at 03:05:29PM -0200, Alexandre Oliva wrote:
> >
> >
> >>On Jan 24, 2005, Ralf Ertzinger <fedora-devel camperquake de> wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>>Hi.
> >>>Aurelien Bompard <gauret free fr> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>>I did not know, is it possible to have a tool find the rpms that no rpms
> >>>>depend on, and ask to remove them ?
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>The problem with this is that RPM does not indicate whether a package has
> >>>"end user value" (a command line or GUI program, or a daemon), or is just
> >>>a support library needed by said end user programs, which can be removed
> >>>if not needed by anyone.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>Could we perhaps add such a flag to the rpm database? Then the
> >>installer and the various other package installation front-ends could
> >>mark user- (or comps-)requested packages as having end user value, and
> >>everything else brought in to satisfy dependencies such that it is (or
> >>can be) removed as soon as no dependencies remain.
> >>
> >>
> >
> >ATrpms has started marking library only packages with
> >
> > Provides: shared-library-package
> >
> >so these packages can be identifies with
> >
> > rpm --whatprovides shared-library-package
> >
> >and be probed for garbage collection.
> >
> >I.e. there is no need to extend rpm, you have everything already in
> >place.
> >
> >
>
> And there's no need for the *.spec churn and the marker in dependencies:
>
> rpm -qa 'classdict=*shared object*'
wow, nice trick, I'm impressed! With rpm one cannot stop learning :)
Indeed, if all shared libs were already packaged in the suggested
scheme, this would catch them all.
I don't think everything should be packaged that way (distribution
invariants like glibc for instance not), and such a idiom would also
need its time to spread into rawhide, so having the Provides:
shared-library-package is a good hook to distinguish leaf-disposable
packages from others that are bundling libs and further stuff.
--
Axel.Thimm at ATrpms.net